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A MOVING TALE

My deepest sympathy goes out to Mr.  Stan White for his loss of a son to cancer.  ( A Father's Tale, Dec 3 ).  Thank you to the editor of the Cleveland Free Times for sharing the story with your readers.

Marinol is synthetic THC in a capsule with vegetable oil.  THC is difficult to digest in that form and, even if it were in a more easily digestible form ( such as heated in oil to free the active compounds ), it still takes too long to digest to be effective for someone who is violently ill at the time.  Smokeable THC is the only way around vomiting.

Marinol is an extremely expensive pill ( $25-40 per day ) and is often unavailable to many pharmacies due to excessive DEA regulation.  Black market marijuana is not only more effective than Marinol it is cheaper and easier to obtain.  The FDA approved Delta-9-THC, the active and most demonized ingredient in marijuana, as Marinol in 1986.  It is so safe that the DEA down scheduled Marinol in 1999.  Essentially the FDA and DEA is saying marijuana has medical value and is safe.  Yet 2,000 are arrested every day for using marijuana.

Larry Seguin,

Lisbon, New York